NZXT S340 Razer Edition - You won't like it when it's angry! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2016-05-06
·
2,548 words · ~12 min read
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almost a year ago we awarded the NZXT s340 our prestigious stuff that doesn't
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suck award for being a well-built case with a smaller footprint at a fairly
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reasonable price since then the s340 has been a hit with many system Builders and
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now NZXT is doubling down and releasing an allnew Razer Edition s340 for folks
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who want to pair it with their razor peripherals or who just really like the
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color green or who well yeah anyways we'll be taking a closer look at the
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s340 than we did the original time it was showcased quite a while ago and
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we'll see what new features Razer brings to the table is it good enough for your
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next case stay tuned to find out and hit the like button if you're interested in
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seeing us attempt a a hard drive platter
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swap without a clean room and on a drive that we haven't seen anyone do this
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to the Logitech g303 features a light
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weight design an advanced Optical sensor with Delta zero technology for precise
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tracking and RGB lighting to match your setup click the link in the video
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description to learn more so let's get right into it the packaging that NZXT
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use is the same kind of middleof the road styrofoam that they've been using
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for a while now and although we were lucky enough not to encounter any
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defects on the original s340 that we reviewed not this guy uh this time
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around we had The Misfortune of having a fan fall completely off of its frame
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resulting in in a broken Fin and some pretty serious initial disappointment
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I'm not sure if this was due to the packaging or if the fan was just effective but it might have been
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something NZXT should take a closer look at in the future as numerous people have
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complained about shipping damage on the original s340 which we mentioned in our
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previous video review which you can check out here fortunately we were able
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to throw on a replacement fan and just charge on forward with our review the
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case itself is nice and light for a mid Tower and while I don't see it as a land
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party case specifically as there's no handles it wouldn't be too hard to Lug
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around if need be you'll be able to find a matte black finish on the entire case
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in contrast to the original s340 which was mostly glossy which which finish is
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superior kind of depends on your personal preference though I do personally prefer matte finish above
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glossy finish every time if for nothing else than just its fingerprint
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resistance with that said let's have a closer look at the outside of this bad
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boy the front of the case is completely clean has a smooth smooth look with the
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exception of the light up green razor logo in the middle the left side panel
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features a large highly tinted window to show off your components the tinting is
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quite dark and might be too much for some people who really want to be able
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to see their rigs innards and detail but folks who want a more stealthy look
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might really go for it in any event adding some cheap LEDs on the inside is
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an option as well if you want to brighten stuff up the right side panel
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is bare and continues the case's stealthy matte look moving to the top
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you'll find a 120 mm fan included this
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particular one here is white as you can probably see but we had to replace the
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previously installed fan so it it won't be white if you buy yours uh the mount
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does support up to 140 mm fans if you want to swap the current one out and the
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included fans the two included fans in the case are rifle bearing base fans
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with three pin connectors you can plug them into whatever you want you also get a power button at the top which glows
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green when the computer is on as well as headphone and microphone jacks green
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hard drive activity light and two USB 3.0 ports in razor green instead of the
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traditional blue I especially liked how the power button gave a nice hard click
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when I pressed it so you know for sure that it's been activated do note that
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there is no reset button on this case however make it a little bit more
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difficult to cycle your system although not a ton of people use them anyways the
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back of the case features a button that allows you to easily turn the case
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lights on or off the rest of the back is pretty standard you you get that second
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120 mm fan and the regular complement of
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seven PCIe slots the thumb screws for the slots are covered on the outside of
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the chassis presumably to save space on the inside you do need to remove an
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extra panel that's held on with a thumb screw beside these slots to install the
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PCIe cards though this is an improvement over the original s340 which simply left
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that space open exposing the inside of your case the side panels are held on
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with captive thumb screws that include small little washers to keep them from
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scratching your case's finish which is actually pretty cool and there's also a
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thumb screw bracket for your power supply Mak it easy to install and remove
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said power supply from your case the bottom has some ground effect lighting
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again in that razor green which you're probably expecting which produces a
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pretty powerful visual effect in a room with maybe dim lighting and this makes
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the case look kind of like something out of Fast and the Furious but you might be
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going for that no judgment no judgment what's not as cool as this is the power
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supply dust filter however the original s340 came with a flimsy but still
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functional filter that didn't have a frame and was just kind of held in place
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with some small metal Clips forgivable since it was a budget-minded case the
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razor Edition comes with the same filter but once we removed it it was a little
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tricky to reinstall because you have to bend the thing into a couple of tiny
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holes or slots underneath where the underglow lights are even on a budget
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case something as simple as a dust filter should really be not that hard to
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work with you do however get the same nice rubber feet that you did on the
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original s340 that give your case a nice amount of clearance which is especially
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important if you'll be using it in a carpeted area so now let's explore the
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inside starting behind the front panel the front bezel is a little bit
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difficult to remove cuz there's pegs and they're stiff and I don't like pegs but
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whatever once you give it a good tug you'll get the thing off uh under there
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you'll find a much nicer magnetic dust filter which is easy to remove reinstall
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clean all that good stuff and space for two 120 mm fans or 2 140 mm fans or a
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240 mm radiator or 280 mm radiator if
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you prefer your water cooling side of things however because of the mounting
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location of the PCB for your top iio you have to install the fans between the
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radiator and the front of the case or you won't have enough room at the top
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once we figured this out though installing a full size 2 1880 mm closed
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loop water cooler was actually pretty easy there's also a very nice amount of
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clearance between the bezel and the front of the chassis itself so your fans
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should get some good air flow from the top and bottom of the case make sure
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though to be careful when removing this front bezel as the wires for the light
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up razor logo connect to a plug that's cable managed through it and a hole in
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the frame and stuff and it's very easy to snag the plug on the hole and because
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the wires are so thin you can snap them right apart which is what happened to us
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during the review process fortunately we able to solder the thing back together
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and get the light working again but it is something you should definitely be wary of behind the fan radiator mounts
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there's a cable management bar which kind of separates itself a little bit
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and well allows you to manage cables behind it instead of the typical series
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of holes that we'd see on other cases with possibly some gromets in it it
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features a razor logo though it's a little hard to see with everything being
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closed behind the window tinting because it is not actually illuminated the bar
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itself however is actually pretty useful I like that it comes into the middle of
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the case a little bit cuz you have more space there and something like a 24 pin
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cable which can have a bunch of extra bulk you don't have to try to cram and
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hide behind the motherboard tray on these style of cases you might not have
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a ton of space behind that motherboard tray so that 24 pin is taking up a lot
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of valuable real estate so if you kind of shove it up there a little bit kind
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of get out of the way speaking of the motherboard tray you'll find pre-installed standoffs in the proper
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places for an ATX board with a peg in
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the center to help you avoid frustration during a which is great I love those
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things there's also a couple of cable management holes up to the top on either
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side for things like your eight pin EPS connector and system fan headers there
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aren't rubber grommets but the holes do a pretty good enough job regardless
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directly below the motherboard tray we have an h440 esque basement area there
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are two thumb screw mounts for your ssds on top of the basement which lets you
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show them off which is great as well as Cable Management holes behind them for
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both your SATA cables and anything you need to plug into the bottom of your
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motherboard the inside of the basement contains both your power supply and non-
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removable hard drive CAG that you can hold two mechanical hard drives in or
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ssds do note though that the case doesn't come with any ssds adapters so
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you'll have to use some third party solution or just leave it there to be
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completely honest doesn't really matter you'll also need screws for the hard
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drive mounts as they aren't toolless and as with the original s340 you'll either
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need to remove the power supply or use a short screwdriver to get to the kind of
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second screw further inside the basement you can mount one more drive on the
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floor of the case which you'll need to screw in through the bottom and if
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you're concerned about Drive airf flow the vents near the top of the basement
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above the cage so you're kind of hard drive heat can go into the main part of
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your case and be blown away from there for those of you that don't want this
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and would rather block it off there isn't a stock solution but I'm sure you
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can figure something out the drive cage is also where you'll find the
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accessories kit you get screws zip ties a handy socket for moving and installing
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standoffs and a couple of razor stickers that you can stick on things like a case
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moving behind the right side panel we see that NZXT has included some cable
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management options I counted four Cable Management loops on the bar three near
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the front and another 11 on the motherboard tray which is freaking
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awesome actually especially as I've seen far fewer options on larger more
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expensive cases pre-installed cables are nearly pre-managed with Bakery style
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twist ties including the fans which come connected to a Molex powered fanhub that
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also provides power to the case lights there are a couple of caveats though if
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you use the front cable Loops it may be a bit harder to close the side panel as
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it can get caught on whatever cables are there also while the cable management
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bar is a good idea overall it can make connecting cables to Sid mounted SATA
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ports a challenge as you have to kind of thread them through a narrow Gap and
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then plug them in without a lot of clearance for your fingers there's some ways to do it but it's not as easy so
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can we say that the NZXT s340 razor
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Edition doesn't suck just like its predecessor the answer is a definitive
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yes the one drawback is that you're going to have to pay an extra maybe 30
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bucks to get the razor branding and case lighting which may move it out of the
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budget realm for some buyers at $100 but the build quality is very good
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throughout with the only plastic being on the front bezel and the case was also
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pretty quiet even though it doesn't have any actual noise dampening features
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specifically anywhere so if you want a stealthy black and green build and don't
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mind plunking down a few extra dollars the NZXT s340 raiser Edition definitely
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worth a look Ting is the US mobile carrier that
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is focused on customer service and customer satisfaction first don't speak
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to a robot call up Ting and get put through directly to a person while
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paying only for what you use the average Ting bill is only about $24 per month
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per device and if you're stuck in a contract and want to switch to Ting
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they'll cover 25% of your cancellation fee up to $75 so head over to lin.com
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and try out their savings calculator and when you sign up with our link you'll
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also get a $25 service credit and a $25
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towards a new device credit thank you for watching guys if
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this video sucked you know what to do but if it was awesome get subscribed hit
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you're done doing all of that stuff you're probably wondering what to watch
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next so click the little button in the top right hand corner to check out this
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video where I take a brief look at the Razer
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Wildcat